Welsh Athletics bosses are hoping golden boy Dai Greene can lift the troubled sport by defending his 400m hurdles Commonwealth Games in title this week.

The athletics calendar kicks of today with Welsh Athletics in crisis following the failed doping tests of Gareth Warburton and Greene’s fellow 400m hurdler Rhys Williams.

Greene is the major hope for Glasgow gold although but has only raced once in the past 11 months after double hernia surgery last winter.

With the heats on Tuesday now likely to be dropped, Greene will be in action on Wednesday in the semi-finals and possibly the final on Thursday.

And Welsh Athletics head of performance Scott Simpson hopes Greene can help lift the gloom as his squad chase the four medal target.

“We’ve had a rough few weeks in Welsh Athletics and a couple of good, early results this week would steady the ship,” added Simpson.

“Four medals were always going to be a tough target for us to reach, but I’d like to think we’ve got enough quality and experience in our squad to win some medals.

“The good news for Dai that he will only have to run two rounds now rather than three. That should help him and, who knows, if he gets in two good races here he could qualify for Zurich and the European Championships.

"In fact, Glasgow could be the perfect warm-up for him for Zurich. He is an athlete who has achieved so much in the past, and won so many great medals, that we had to give him as much time as possible to prove his fitness.”

In his one race to date this summer Greene beat the reigning World Champion Jehue Gordon in Hungary earlier this month.

“The race that he opened with gave us all hope. It was a good start that hopefully indicates his injury worries are now a thing of the past,” said Simpson. “That performance was a true reflection of the man and his calibre.”

Greene is looking to become only the third Welsh athlete to successfully defend a Commonwealth title after Lynn Davies and Colin Jackson.

Marathon runner Andrew Davies has the honour of being the first Welsh athlete in action.

British champion and Delhi 2010 silver medallist Carys Parry begins her chase for another medal in the women’s hammer qualifying while shot putters Gareth Winter and Ryan Spencer-Jones kick off their campaign.